BROOMFIELD -- Rod Beauchamp cuts a dashing figure in scarlet and white. But how will he look in blue and white? The answer to that question comes Dec. 5, when the Fairview girls basketball coach begins his new position as Broomfield High School athletic director.

Beauchamp's hiring became official on Monday, concluding a near month-long search to fill the interim position. And while the 13-year veteran of Knights hoops was excited to pursue a career opportunity he has long sought, there was a bittersweet aspect to the move.

"There were a lot of the girls who said they were excited for me when I broke the news," the coach said. "But there were definitely a lot of tears, too."

Beauchamp's move comes two days before the Knights tip off their season at a California-based tournament. And it comes on the heels of more than a decade of success with him at the helm. The coach has helped Fairview perennially push deep into the Class 5A state brackets. His 2010 run into the Great Eight was his best with the team.

As proud as Beauchamp is of what his athletes have accomplished on the court, he said he is equally as proud with the mark they made away from it.

"Academics have always come first with my teams. And each year my girls have done 200 hours of community service," he said. "They have been well-round people."

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The opportunity to take over Broomfield's athletic department was an opportunity Beauchamp said he could not pass by. The school's energy and support of its athletic programs are unparalleled, from what the new athletic director has seen.

And, as he points out, it boasts some of the Boulder Valley School District's and state's top sports programs. Obviously one of the first that came to Beauchamp's mind was the Eagles girls basketball team that set the record for consecutive state championships at five.

The former Knights coach got the opportunity to jump into Broomfield after a number of administrators were shuffled around the district.

Ginny Vidulich got the ball rolling on the moves when the assistant principal left Louisville Middle school to take over the district's new special education center. Broomfield athletic director John Long then moved to fill the void Vidulich left at the middle school. This ultimately led to Beauchamp taking over Long.

Convoluted as it all sounds, it could be reversed in a blink of an eye.

Each of the administrators could find themselves back in their old positions within a year if Vidulich decides not to apply for her new position full time. Technically, the door is open until August for the administrator to apply, Broomfield principal Ginger Ramsey said. But Ramsey is hoping that the process moves at a much faster clip.

"I'm pushing for a decision to be made in early springtime," she said. "But I have no idea of when an official decision will be made."

If things do not work out for Beauchamp at Broomfield, Frank Lee said the door remains open for the coach at Fairview.

"If Rod wants to come back he is more than welcome," the athletic director said. "But if everything ends up the way it is now and he stays at Broomfield, we'll post his job sometime in the late spring or early summer."

Beauchamp's move caused some ripples on his home court. Lee was not sent scrambling to find a replacement coach, but he did say time was of the essence. Luckily, athletic director and boys basketball coach points out, there was a serendipitous solution to Beauchamp's departure right on his staff -- Andre Goldberg.

The 2002 Fairview graduate and all-conference basketball player just moved back to the region this fall. Before being promoted to the girls hoops post Monday morning, he was one of Lee's assistant coaches. And while this will be his first high school head coaching position, it is not Goldberg's first time at a team's reins. Before moving back to the area, he was head women's basketball coach at Dickinson State in North Dakota.

Goldberg, a finalist for the Centaurus boys hoops job last spring, will receive plenty of support in taking over the Knights. The team has a solid core of three returning starters and a coaching staff that has been with the program for more than a decade. Goldberg understands he has big shoes to fill, but also believes he has a great opportunity with the team.

"I just look to come in and build off the success that is already there," he said. "I just hope to bring in my energy and see what we are able to accomplish."

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